Leon Johnson, 1927-2010

Monday

Dec 27, 2010 at 12:01 AMDec 27, 2010 at 1:00 PM

Leon Elvin Johnson, 83, of Columbia passed away at University Hospital on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010, surrounded by his family.

Funeral services will be held at 4 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 28, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 4708 Highlands Parkway in Columbia. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church. Cremation of the body will follow the service and the urn will be placed in the Columbarium of Columbia Cemetery in a private family ceremony.

Leon was a retired professor emeritus from the University of Missouri Department of Health and Physical Education, where he developed a graduate program to train educators to teach physical education to children with mental and physical disabilities. During his tenure, he obtained many federal grants and testified before Congress, working with Sen. Ted Kennedy to ensure that this component was included in the Individual Education Program portion of the EAHCA Act of 1975.

He was born in Woods Cross, Utah, on May 4, 1927, to the late Elving and Florence Tingey Johnson. Leon volunteered for the U.S. Army the day after graduating from Davis High School and was in one of the first units to enter Berlin in 1945 near the end of World War II.

After his service, he returned to Utah where he worked for Cudahay Meat Packing Co. and in construction. Later he attended Weber State University, earning his bachelorís degree, and then earned his masterís degree from the University of Utah.

Leon loved to hunt and fish, particularly in Yellowstone Park, where he met his wife of nearly 44 years, Jodi McCall. They married in the LDS Salt Lake City Temple on Jan. 20, 1966, and moved to Morgantown, W.Va., where Leon earned his doctorate of education. He then took a position at East Carolina University, where he taught for four years before moving to Columbia to teach at the University of Missouri.